Lily Allen

Singer-cum-enfant terrible Lily Allen made a considerable splash on the U. K. music scene with her debut album, <i>Alright, Still</i> (2006), which charmed as many listeners as it dismayed...
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"It was a big learning curve. We were used to playing really small venues, in front of people we know and love... (but) Miley and Lily were both really supportive. Then there's the truth of being an opening act: You've got to pay your dues. You're not the band the audience came to see. It gives you thick skin, and you learn to perform even when the audience isn't giving you that energy." Actress Zoe Kravitz on hitting the road with her band Lolawolf after they were selected to support Miley Cyrus and Lily Allen on tour last year (14).

British singer Paloma Faith has accused BRIT Awards bosses of sexism after they failed to shortlist her album A Perfect Contradiction for an honour. The Picking Up the Pieces hitmaker's third studio record was the sixth best-selling disc of 2014 in the U.K. so Faith is disappointed it was not recognised by the awards bosses, who have given nods to male acts including Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran.
The two pop stars will compete against Royal Blood, Alt-J and George Ezra for the British Album of the Year trophy at the ceremony in London on Wednesday (25Feb15), and Faith fears she was snubbed from the shortlist because she is a woman.
She tells Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper, "I was the only female in the top 10 selling albums. All the rest were men... I'm a bit miffed about the album category, but beggars can't be choosers and I am a beggar. I don't know why it isn't there.
"It's funny how everyone went absolutely nuts for about three years at how women are ruling the music industry... and then they (award bosses) were like, 'We've given them three years so let's suppress them for another 400'."
Faith will compete against Lily Allen, Jessie Ware, FKA Twigs and Ella Henderson for the British Female Solo Artist prize on Wednesday.

Angry fans of pop star Cheryl Cole have sent a series of hateful messages to British singer Jessie Ware over her BRIT Awards nod. Former Girls Aloud star Cole, also known by her married name Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, was snubbed from the Best Female Solo Artist shortlist in favour of acts including Ware, Lily Allen, Paloma Faith and Robert Pattinson's girlfriend FKA Twigs.
Several of Cole's fans have taken issue with Ware's nomination, and they have vented their anger to the singer via Twitter.com.
Ware tells Britain's Daily Star newspaper, "A lot of Cheryl army people tweeted me saying, 'Who the f**k is Jessie Ware?' I did feel slightly guilty that Cheryl wasn't nominated... The Cheryl army go in hard. One person said, 'This f**king Jessie has had two mediocre charting singles'. It's a fair point and quite correct."
The winners of the BRIT Awards will be announced in London on Wednesday (25Feb15).

Soul icon Erykah Badu decided to spread a little love on Valentine's Day (14Feb15) after refusing to be drawn into a Twitter feud with confrontational rapper Azealia Banks. The dispute began on Thursday (12Feb15), when a fan asked Badu if she listens to Banks' music, to which she simply replied, "tried".
The On & On hitmaker didn't expand on her answer, but the brief tweet caught the hip-hop newcomer's attention on Saturday and Banks subsequently blasted Badu in a series of angry posts, suggesting "jealousy" was to blame for the criticism.
She then ranted, "When artists grow old and begin to recognize their own mortality they throw shade at (criticise) younger spirits. We see it happen ALL the time. Whether or not you like me... You are WATCHING, and that's what's most important."
Badu refused to remain silent, but instead of firing back at Banks, she decided to put the rapper at ease, replying, "Well s**t I did try. Maybe you're right.. I'm just to old to get it. You cool tho (sic)?"
A calmer Banks then responded, "I'm cool, I was just trying to make sure you were cool...."
Banks is well-known for her Twitter feuds after previously attacking Iggy Azalea, Kendrick Lamar, Lily Allen and Pharrell Williams online.

Pop star Lily Allen has been targeted with a series of abusive cell phone messages after a hacker broke into her pal Taylor Swift's account on Twitter.com. The Smile hitmaker received text messages claiming to be from a member of the ISIS terror network and threatening to rape and kill her.
She fears her phone number was obtained after Swift's Twitter account was hacked in January (15).
Allen posted an image of the texts to her Instagram.com account on Friday (13Feb15), writing, "Cool i (got a) message from some kid that got my number from hacking Taylor Swifts Twitter (sic)."
The message read, "alright u dont understand im actually a terrorist from isis u dumb b**ch", before going on to threaten to rape and kill the singer.
It is not known if Allen plans to take action over the security breach.

Ellie Goulding has accused BRIT Awards bosses of making a big mistake by failing to included fellow U.K. pop star Jessie J in this year's (15) nominations. The Price Tag singer scored one of the biggest hits of 2014 with her chart smash Bang Bang, but she failed to land a single mention in the nominations when they were announced earlier this month (Jan15).
Goulding, who won the Best British Female prize last year (14), has now spoken out to accuse officials behind the awards of short-sightedness for nominating stars such as Lily Allen, whose last few singles were deemed critical and commercial failures, instead of Jessie J.
She tells Britain's The Sun newspaper, "I was surprised (that Jessie J did not land a nomination) because she's an incredible pop star. It sounds weird saying that, but she is. She nails it and she still has one of the most incredible voices in the world. So that shocked me. I don't know how the voting words."
Allen will fight for the Best British Female award alongside rising singer FKA Twigs, former The X Factor contestant Ella Henderson, Jessie Ware and Paloma Faith.

Bob Geldof has written a newspaper article encouraging the public to ignore criticism of the recent Band Aid single and buy the track to raise money to tackle the Ebola crisis. A number of celebrities have publicly criticised the latest incarnation of festive track Do They Know It's Christmas? for its lyrics and fundraising method, including Emeli Sande, Lily Allen and Kasabian.
Geldof has previously blasted the critics, but in one final push to get the song to the Christmas number one spot in the U.K., the Boomtown Rats rocker has written an article for Britain's The Independent newspaper urging readers to ignore the cynicism and focus on the cause.
He writes, "Whatever impenetrable b**locks has been spoken about this little song, the reality has been 30 non-stop years of Band Aid work, hundreds of millions of dollars raised and spent, millions of lives bettered... In the face of that, who gives a f**k what some ill-informed, stupid, cliched, metropolitan bunch of t**ts from 'Cooltown' think disputing the words of a minor pop song, questioning the artists, querying the motivation behind it? And all this sickening petty irrelevance against what the BBC called 'the industrial-scale dying' of those one plane ride away from us. If you can't get a life then why not try to give one to others? Whatever...
"But be assured that I, for one, and all the others involved in Band Aid will never stop. And nor will millions of other people, real people, who saw those other real people in unimaginable terror and pain, and wanted to do something, however simple... In buying this record that is what most people will do. They will reach across the abyss of human suffering. For whatever the cynics say, the impulse of compassion will always triumph."

British pop star Lily Allen has been blasted by members of a Christian support group for recreating a nativity scene onstage during her concert in London on Friday (12Dec14). The Smile hitmaker pretended to be Baby Jesus during her performance at the O2 Academy Brixton by laying in a hay-filled manger onstage in a blue mini dress, which exposed part of her buttocks.
The nativity scene had been recreated with a mock shed and dancers dressed as a present, a Christmas cracker and a furry animal, and Allen later climbed down from the manger to continue her set.
She shared a picture of the scene on Twitter.com and referenced her recent album Sheezus by writing, "Just hopping out of my manger. As you do... littlebabySHEEZUS thank you London, and cheers 2 (to) everyone that made a gig (sic)."
However, her performance has angered campaigners at U.K. group Christian Voice, with spokesman Stephen Green telling Britain's Sunday Express newspaper, "It is tasteless, it is disrespectful and it is crass."
Allen has yet to respond to the criticism.

Music mogul Simon Cowell has blasted Lily Allen's allegation of corruption in the music industry and told her to stop "bleating" on. The X Factor boss was riled when the Smile hitmaker criticised the early release of Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars' new single, Uptown Funk, after it was performed on the U.K. reality show on Saturday (06Dec14) by contestant Fleur East.
Ronson's single has already raced to the top of the iTunes chart following the early release and Allen has sent a series of tweets, which she later deleted, slamming the move.
During East's performance, Allen wrote on Twitter.com, "Well done to Sony for managing to get a not yet released song of theirs sung on prime time weekend telly. It is an amazing song. Fleur did it justice but it's still a great example of music industry corruption."
Cowell revealed he was relieved he did not chose Allen to sit on the judging panel as they had previously discussed, and dismissed her claims as "b**locks".
He tells Britain's Daily Mirror, "Lily should stop bleating on about all this. Fleur needed this break, got a chance, she totally killed it. Why not be happy for another artist and say congratulations instead of thinking of some stupid conspiracy theory. The irony is I spoke to Lily about being a judge. And from what I took from the meeting, she was seriously considering it. Thank God I said no. She'd be a barrel of laughs.
"Let me tell you the real story. Someone I work with asked, 'Have you heard this song?' I said no. We got to the first chorus, and I said, 'I'm doing it with Fleur'. On Monday I get a call saying Mark and Bruno are doing it at the final. I say we won't do it. Thursday I get a call, they are not doing the final, so I said, 'OK, I'm doing the song with Fleur'."

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Summary

Singer-cum-enfant terrible Lily Allen made a considerable splash on the U. K. music scene with her debut album, <i>Alright, Still</i> (2006), which charmed as many listeners as it dismayed with its fresh, upbeat retro-pop/ska sound and the singer's brash vocals, which she delivered in an unapologetically thick Cockney accent. The record and its lead singles, "Smile" and "LDN," immediately minted Allen as the latest in a long line of outspoken British musical performers whose success on the charts was matched and occasionally outshined by their off-stage churlishness, which included rude comments towards other performers and bouts of drunkenness. She remained on top with the release of her second CD, <i>It's Not Me, It's You</i> (2009), but Allen appeared to have a change of heart regarding fame, eschewing the spotlight for motherhood in 2011. She announced a possible return in 2012, which generated a wave of excitement from fans on both sides of the Atlantic, underscoring Allen's status as one of England's most well-loved if cheekiest pop performers.